A New House Of Night
by Sincostax
Summary: It's been 1 year since the madness of Neferet and Kalona etc. and Zoey is now the Highest Of High Priestesses, in place of the late Shekinah. The story now follows a newly marked girl, who's a bit like Zoey. Staira. Beau. Pre.
1. Chapter 1

Staira

It was like any other day. Any other _normal_ day.

The sun was high in the sky and the sand on the beach was warm and inviting. What do you do on an empty beach that's warm and glistening and filled with only you and your family and your friends and their family? Sand Angels, then straight to sea with ya'. I giggled to myself and then lay down on the sand and closed my eyes, the sun didn't get my eyes and didn't aggravate them at all. To tell the truth, I _loved_ the sunlight, and of any other place I'd like to be it would be right here. I got up and stepped further into the beach and closer to the sea.

"What ya' doin' Staira?" Jack smiled at me, stupid kid had a crush on me but everyone knew it was only cause of something he _liked_ more than _me_ (get where I'm going?) "Going in the sea? Want me to come with and protect you from any sharks?" he said waggling his brows at me, which I thoroughly tried to ignore – every day of my life.

"No, Jack" I began "I do not need your pompous help from some crazy butt dolphins with attitude" I said leaning and putting my hand on my hip. God. I hated being mean to people or even close to cussing but seriously that kid needed to be given a thorough kick up the a- butt

"You know I love ya' babeh!" he shouted to me as I pulled off my drape and sun hat, and suddenly there was a gust of wind. Which I loved too. I flung my arms out and shook my head slightly, embracing the cool breeze. Sure, I probably looked like I was trying to look sexy and stuff, but really I was just embracing life and all its wonders! (Ooookay, what in hells bells was that about?)

Without checking the temperature of the sea (like a wuss!) I stepped in and slowly began wading/swimming out. It was about 9-10 meters out that I started feeling drowsy. Like super drowsy, as if I'd just fall asleep in the water any moment. And then... I went under. It took me a few moments to realise that it was deeper than I'd imagined and like I usually did when I was underwater, I opened my eyes and tried to look around, there it was. Coming right for me, but what was it? Was it a shark? Was this the end for Staira Beau Pre? (I sounded like a movie just then, sigh).

As my vision focused I noticed it was a guy and that he was getting closer, I began to hear him. Literally _hear_ his thoughts, but it sounded like he was talking,

_Staira Beau Pre_, he said, _the night's beautiful echo is calling you. Listen to it, and heed its wonderful word. Your future and destiny lies at the House of Night. Join us! Staira! Join Us!_ And then he pointed his finger at me and it touched my forehead. I felt a horrible pain and then I fainted.

_Great,_ I thought, _just what I would get... I get marked and then I drown... yay..._ I could hear the sob breaking out in my minds voice. And then something... beautiful happened. My mind became a Rose Garden, right in the midst of a meadow. I reached out to touch the roses but an echoed voice stopped me:

_Staira Beau Pre? Of course it is you... be careful or you may prick yourself, my fair... _the voice didn't seem to put an ending to its sentences, merely trail off, and I noticed that it called me what my parents used to call me. How did it know that?

"Who is this?" I asked thin air

_I am the mother of the night, my child..._ it whispered sweetly into my ear, making me shudder, but in a good way _I gave birth to this place in which dreams are made... I am known to many by different names, but you – my fair – may call me Nyx._

She appeared before me in a floating form. Elegant as her moonshine coloured garments floated blissfully around her. Her face was indescribably beautiful, more beautiful than Johnny Depp and seriously. Work. Of. Art. Her hair shone and glistened like moonlight itself. It wasn't hard to guess.

"Are you..." I started "A-Are you... something special... to the v-vamps?" god I sounded stupid, I sounded like I was afraid a humongous group of em' would jump out and scream "You Have Dishonoured Us!!" and then come and try to kill me. Nyx's Beautiful goddess-like laughter broke through my mind anxiety and completely terminated it

_You may say that, my fair... I am the Vampyre's beloved goddess _she said with just the right amount of opposite self-flattery that she didn't sound big headed at all. She already had me beat! Heck, I could barely talk to a boy about anything, let alone stop myself from sounding big headed!

_My child_ Nyx's words (once again) broke through my brain blather (hehe) and I began listening to her intently again_ You are special, and even if a High Priestess of mine should say otherwise, or you believe otherwise..._ she and all else in my 'dream' began to fade away _...You Always Will Be..._

When I woke up I was in a hospital, but no-one was beside me and I wondered why. I looked to the table by my bed and there was a note from my on-again, off-again best friend Mina:

Dear Whoeveryouarenow

What?

You are not one of _US_ anymore (e.g. HUMANS?!) We all think you should just get your ass hauled away to one of those Houses of Night. So get lost. You don't belong with us anymore!

P.S Look in a Mirror. FREAK!

I felt the tears stinging the back of my eyes and I had to focus on something else to keep from crying. _If I hadn't of gone in that water..._ my mind kept whispering to me _If I hadn't of gone in that water... this wouldn't of happened_ I sobbed and then sniffed and then brought my knees up and hugged them, while I cried myself bitterly back to sleep

_Hello...?_ I whispered to my sleeping self _Are you here Nyx...?_

Silence

_Why did you do this to me? _I whispered to myself again, through the darkness my consciousness reacted. _Did I do something wrong to you...Nyx...? Nyx...? Ny-_

And I was awake. Again. In this nightmare that I would from now and forever call my life.


	2. Chapter 2

The entire night I got no sleep whatsoever. All I did was re-read Mina's note and wonder how I hadn't noticed her two-faced-ness before, and I only got up once to look in the mirror. It was amazing; I really looked more beautiful than I ever had in my entire life. The first of the Tattoos I noticed ran intricately from my crescent, a small chunk-ish thinning line ran close to the beginning end (end closest to my nose)of my eye and stopped just before touching it. Another line which ran from my crescent curved and curled down the right side of my face going down past my cheekbone to sit in soft spiralling curls on my cheek. The last of my tattoos was a strange one which didn't really come from my crescent at all. This tattoo began in two places above my left eye, just below my eyebrow in two soft spiralled curls, these two curls then went down either side of my left eye and into a curled spirally heart on my other cheek slightly below my eye. I looked amazing, and as if the sight of myself wore me out my knees gave way and I sat on the floor staring into the mirror

2 taps broke my stare and I looked around. It certainly wasn't coming from the door and there weren't any other patients in the big room, my village certainly was against vamps. When the next two knocks came it took me by surprise that they were coming from the window. I got up, but felt exhausted and dropped to the floor again; I crawled on hands and knees to the window and opened it. Then I had to move backwards across the floor a bit until I got to my bed and leant on it. I stared at the window, already feeling nausea from my lack of energy, when a boy who looked my age but was way taller than me and – oh! – He had the glowing tattoo on him too! Great! I pulled myself up onto my bed and frowned at him; he turned to me and gave me a side smile before putting his hands on his hips and in an American hill-billy voice saying "Hay, thair! Are y'all Staira Be-be-whatever Pre?". I could tell by his body language and voice that he knew who I was, what was going on, my last name (properly) and that he was _not_ serious with anything of what he was doing. I giggled at him and blushed before nodding "Yes, I am Staira" and flinging my arms out in a 'tadaa!' kind of motion, it was then that his small amount of serious came into light and his hands came off his hips and went one under my knee and one behind my neck "c'mon then, or we'll miss the flight!" he exclaimed before going to jump from the third story window.

"Wait!" I shouted throwing my arms around his neck, causing him to stop what he was doing,

"What?" he asked staring into my eyes

"What flight?" I asked back

"The one to Tulsa's House of Night, of course!" he answered going back to trying to jump out the window.

"Isn't there one here?" I asked "In England?"

"Nah, the closest one is Tulsa," He said "unless you wanna stick around here and start rejecting the change?"

"Nah! I-I'm cool!" I exclaimed nervously. I wonder what would happen if I did reject the change... "But what about my stuff?" I questioned "I'm definitely not buying my stuff _again_" I said blushing, I musta' sounded like a complete and utter butt-head.

"Already taken care of!" he exclaimed going back - once more – to jumping out the window "Now, can we get moving?" he asked sounding kinda hurried. Before I could even think of another question he had jumped down out the window and was running toward a sleek, adorable black Toyota iQ with tinted back windows. I listened to the boy's murmurs and I could hear him say "...she's gonna be sooo annoyed..." but that was all I heard as the exhaustion overwhelmed me and I fell asleep in his arms. I only woke up once to scream in pain and before and after that I slept peacefully.


	3. Chapter 3

When I woke up again, I was in an infirmary and the only thing that greeted me was gawking faces. Instantly I blushed beet red as I realized the only thing covering me was a white sheet, so I quickly grabbed it, making sure it wouldn't come off.

"Wow! She's like Zoey isn't she?" One of the faces said, staring at my tattoos

"She really is!" Two faces said together, I could tell they were female

"I think you should all leave..." The boy from earlier said pushing through the small crowd (hey anywhere from 3 – infinity people is a crowd! 3 _is_ _definitely_ a crowd). As the small group disbanded I heard all the people leaving say "Merry meet and merry part, Phaite" with smiles. I wonder if that was his name... it was a weird and yet nice name, a bit like mine – I mean, my last name's _Beau Pre_ but I'm not French, and neither were my parents. Once everyone had gone, Phaite literally 'pulled up a chair' and began speaking to me with his perfect brows raised while he talked.

"Y'know, even though you're stubborn, ask too many questions and are waaay too lazy-"

"Hey! I couldn't help it! I nearly drowned, bubb!" I up started, sitting up and pointing one finger at him whilst holding the white sheet up with the other

"You nearly drowned?!" Phaite exclaimed, going to the edge of his seat and catching me off-guard "Whoa!"

"Yeah..." I began "But what were you saying?" I tried to change the subject while turning my head away and turning redder.

"Well... anyway" he said then coughed and went back to where was, first he turned and began cleaning some small tools on a table with a small cloth and I thought that I saw red in his cheeks "you might be stubborn, ask too many questions and be well you know coz' I said it before" he said turning his wrist round and round in a 'whatever' kinda way

"But you're really amazing" he rubbed his neck with his hand and then turned his face to me as he finished

"Why?" I asked, curiosity overwhelming me. He hadn't seen me naked had he? I shuddered at the thought

"Well, on the plane you screamed, me and Zoey – the High Priestess and Highest Of High Priestesses here and everywhere else – had no idea what to do" he started "and when we got you to this House Of Night we brought you straight here, only to find a _load_ of scratches and cuts on your body. You became slightly conscious and when we went to heal you..." he trailed off looking at me excitedly

"What?" I frowned at him, I had better not have grown gills and become a fish (hey, I was in the water a while and right now nothing could surprise me)

"You healed _yourself_" He gushed "It was Amazing! Me and Zoey watched and your cuts literally burned away!"

I gave him a 'what the heck?' look and he answered me by saying "Look, just cut yourself" at that I backed away from him a bit, which made him put his hands out and continue "just trust me! Just get your nail and slightly cut yourself!" he told me. I slowly raised my hand and slashed it across my leg a little, which made me suck air in pain. It wasn't huge, but I'd sliced it enough to make a small-ish gash which was bleeding,

"And wait a second..." he said watching my face as I blushed at his stare and watched my cut. Just like he had said, it slowly began to burn away making the hissing sound of something grilling on an open fire. There was no doubt it was amazing, but something inside me was crying and that part of me affected my outside emotion and slowly I began to cry. Why was I crying? Not the foggiest, so I tried to listen to the voice while Phaite-boy patted me and asked what was wrong... _I really am a freak,_ it told me, _just like Mina said..._

"No..." I whispered, not knowing that I'd just said it

"What is it?" Phaite-boy asked

"Huh? Oh..." I realised I must of said it aloud "It's, err, it's nothing" I smiled at him, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Hey, my names Phaite by the way, Phaite Forlorn" He said putting one hand out to shake mine, and using the other to rub his neck again. I giggled. He was blushing and it looked kinda cute, _hot_ even.

"Hey, Phaite. My names- Oh wait; you already know mine don't you..." I said shaking his hand and then mirroring what he was doing (rubbing my neck) and giving him a 'woops!-sorry' kinda look. At that he went redder and stopped rubbing his neck; he threw his head forward and practically shouted in my face "I-It's okay! I-I just had to know your name coz' I had to find you!"

I grimaced at him for a second but then I laughed. After all this crying and screaming and... Pain, I laughed! Hard! And when Phaite went back to rubbing his neck and continued to get red I laughed _even_ _harder_! And from that moment to... I don't know when, I knew that the nightmare which I was going to call my life wasn't going to be such a nightmare after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Just before we left the infirmary Phaite handed me my Come to the Dark side PJ's from Pulp and my black Nightgown (and some undies and a bra, which he tried not to touch),

"You don't wanna get cold do ya?" he said as we left the infirmary and began walking to the dorms.

"Spose not" I replied. I wonder why he was leading me everywhere; he looked my age so surely he needed to be in lessons (if there were any) around now, instead of looking after me. Perhaps he wasn't a fledgling like me; maybe he was like a teacher or something. Nah, he couldn't be, there was an attraction between us I just wouldn't be able to find between me and a teacher. Oh, well. I would ask later.

"Hey," I began, as we walked down the hall (slowly, because I still felt like I would fall over. But I insisted that Phaite didn't carry me) "Your name's quite weird, isn't it? And I'm pretty sure that it wasn't your name before you were... Y'know, marked?" I said "And doesn't Forlorn mean like something that's hopeless?" I asked.

"Y'know, your pretty smart" Phaite grinned at me "Adds more to the list" he murmured as he turned his head from me back to the opening we were coming to. As we stepped out into the courtyard I was amazed by its beauty. The whole school looked just like a castle, it looked like Hogwarts from Harry Potter and it looked centuries old but it still appeared elegant (plus, it was waaay cooler than Hogwarts). The grass looked bright and blooming even though it was night and there were kids everywhere, talking and giggling and studying and allsorts – until they saw me and Phaite. Everyone stopped and stared our way, which was either coz' Phaite is so _hot_ or coz' none of them had seen me before (and I was definitely a new kid) but my crescent was already filled in. At the stare of all of the people I began feeling tired again and my legs gave out.

"Hey!" Phaite said quickly as he turned and grabbed me just before I touched the ground, I heard a couple of people – boy and girl – gasp and squeal and begin whispering, I pulled my attention back to Phaite who was staring at me and blushing only slightly.

"Now d'you get why I said I wanted to carry you?" He asked before putting one hand behind my neck and the other under my knee, like he had a couple of hours ago before I'd lost consciousness.

Slowly he continued walking along the path surrounded by pillars, the ceiling and the beautiful Ivy which was growing down them. As he walked past groups of people I heard most of them gasp and squeal like the people outside had, and some of them walked by and greeted Phaite with blushes and quiet "blessed be" 's. What did that mean anyway? Was that like some kind of strange club greeting or something? Like every vamp in existence was in the group and had to greet each other with 'blessed be'. Jeesh! That would be difficult to remember.

"Hey," I looked up at Phaite "How come everyone has to say blessed be?"

Phaite chuckled at me and the feeling of his laughter tickling my side was calming "They don't all have to say blessed be, Y'know" he said "you only say it to someone you respect" he looked at me then and smiled before looking back to where he was walking "Like I'll say blessed be when I see Zoey, because she is a very powerful and respected fledgling/vamp"

"And what's a fledgling?" I asked

"You are" he grinned

"Huh..." I said, sounding 'away with the fairies'. Well this would be a lot to get used to.

"So, I never got an answer. Why's your last name Forlorn?" I spoke slowly wondering what my answer might be

"It's not really that interesting," he said and then laughed a little humourlessly before continuing "I refused to come to the House of Night and I nearly rejected the change too" He looked absent, like his body was moving but his mind and soul wasn't really there.

"Well, why wouldn't you come to the House of Night?" I asked softly, curiosity filling me with fear. I didn't want to upset him, after all.

"My, err... My Grandma" His voice started to crack and he stopped and swallowed "My Grandma got sick and no-one else could take care of her 'cept me" He said. I cupped his face with one of my hands

"What happened to her?" I asked slowly and softly

"She, um... She went to intensive care and then an old people's home. They won't let me see her" I shattered at what he said

"Why... Why not?" I asked _feeling _his pain

"They don't have much... toleration, to vamps or fledglings" He said, moving my arms round his neck so he could take the hand behind my neck and pull his V-neck shirt's collar down a bit to show bruises and barely healed cuts, he then moved his hand to his other shoulder and pulled the short sleeve up to show yet more bruises and cuts. It was horrible and I didn't even need to ask to know the answer to how it happened. It was plain obvious.

"That's awful" I said putting one hand on the bruise on his shoulder which made him take in a sharp breath of pain, and strangely enough me too. We had both closed our eyes with the pain and when we both looked back, the cuts and bruises on his shoulder were gone. Our eyes met each other and he smiled at me excitedly, I on the other hand got a sharp pain on my shoulder. The left to be exact. Exactly where he had the bruises only a second ago. I pushed my nightgown shoulder down a bit to see his cuts and bruises reflected on _my_ shoulder.

"Whoa! That's really cool, but seriously freaky" Phaite said which, of course, I had to bite my lip not to cry at. _Freaky_. Then, almost as swiftly as they had appeared, the cuts and bruises burned away.

"Awesome!" Phaite exclaimed, which made me look from my shoulder to his beaming face "I think I know who's gonna be the schools next healer, seeing as Neferet..." He trailed off and then began walking again.

"Who's Neferet?" I questioned, beginning to get a bad feeling. Phaite looked around to see if there was anyone around and when he saw there wasn't anyone he turned a corner and let me stand on my own. I heard him mutter "she will not be happy when I tell her..." then he turned to me and took a big breath,

"You're not meant to know this, okay?" I nodded "So you can't go and say any of this to anyone Okay?" I nodded again "Okay..." and then he began the horrible story. The story of a fallen High Priestess Of Nyx and her disturbing tale about reincarnation (of a sort), A fallen angel and loads of random and really weird crap (hey, I hate all cuss words 'cept crap) which made my head hurt and my legs gave way. Luckily Phaite and his _amazing_ reflexes caught me before I fell on my butt.

"So, that's the story" Phaite said uneasily "Happy you know it?" He asked me softly as he lifted me back onto my feet but kept a firm grip on me

"I don't... I don't know..." I said a little above a whisper, rubbing my temples "Could we go to my room... please? I'm just super tired" I said, staring into his beautiful eyes which were a mixture of green and blue which made looking into them like staring off into the distance of a field.

"Okay..." He sighed hoisting me up into his arms and walking quicker to the dorms.


	5. Chapter 5

He stopped just outside the door and moved uneasily. "What is it?" I asked smiling cockily at him. He was scared of going into the dorm with me, wasn't he?

"Well, it's after visiting hours for guys in the girl's dorm and even though I need to get you in there - and you can't really stand - I don't think I can go in there" He sent an apologetic look to me. Oh. God – Ah! Goddess! – He was being smart and responsible, whereas I was being totally immature. Sigh.

"I'm sure you can" I said as he let me stand on my own again and (again) still kept a tight grip on me to keep me up "I mean, you've got a job to do right?" I said and then blushed as I added "And, I don't think I'd feel as safe with someone else as I do with you". Funnily enough, at what I said, Phaite seemed to blushed slightly and then he said in a slightly shocked voice

"Okay then, let's go" He opened the door and guided me in. The Inside of the dorms was just as amazing as the outside part of the school, and to a total and utter 20th century girl like _moi_ it was beautiful. Where I thought it would be all dark and dreary with the only entertainments being either to watch paint dry, listen to the _fire_ or torture others it was really nowadays! They had a _load_ of plasma screen and sofas and bean bags and all sorts and- omigod_dess_! They had a kitchen, a really high-class expensive looking kitchen too! Urgh (happy groan)! I would die if they didn't have coco-pops! I. Am. Such. A. Wiener. But I Just Don't Care!

Unfortunately I didn't get much time to think about anything or to look around some more, cause Phaite was already making his way up the stairs to my dorm. The one thing I made out before I went up the stairs was a small group of girls sitting on the sofas drooling over Phaite, and yet they were mouthing 'you're so lucky!' and stuff like that at me as we went upstairs. Vamps and fledglings really had lots of toleration. For loads of stuff, including their crushes being stolen away by new competition... who said there was anything going on between us? I blushed on the outside at my inner question. When we got up the stairs, Phaite reached in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He looked at the piece of paper quickly before turning Left and going right to the end of the hall, where he knocked and then I registered what I was hearing through the door. _Atomic Kitten!_ Seriously! _Atomic Kitten!_ They had been dead for like years (as in the band, I'm sure the people are fulfilling their lives). A girl around my height (medium height) with serious strawberry blonde hair (we're talking light, yet bright orange), a pink head band, a pink top with a panda on it that had a blue heart and blue jeans which matched the colour of the Panda's heart on her shirt. While I was gawking at the girl's strange but cool clothes, she had been gawking at me and at Phaite "A-are you my roommate?" the girl asked me but stared at Phaite, then turned her attention to me just before Phaite said "Yes, this is your roommate, Staira Beau Pre" he put small pauses between each part of my name, which made the girl jump and shift her attention quickly back to him and blush "O-okay" she said whilst turning back into the room , mouthing '_hot' _and then pointing at me and mouthing '_lucky!_' which I blushed at. The girl went into the room and went to what looked like a bathroom door and called "I'm just gonna go to the toilet, so you two can, err, look at the room" she smiled and then closed the little door. Phaite turned to me and smiled a side smile, which I must say was quite sexy.

"So, you think you'll be comfortable-"he motioned to the room "Here?" he asked, I blushed slightly

"Well, yeah. That girl seems nice and-"

"Are you sure?" Phaite broke in "Do you... Do you wanna know where my room is? Not being funny or anything but, I feel protective of you and if something happens or goes wrong I'd like to know as I seem to be the only person you know and can talk to easily so far." He grinned at me and I flushed beet red

"Well, I, err, I 'spose that'd be... helpful?" I said anxiously. Was he trying to make my heart race? I really, really liked him and he seemed to be toying with me. Ugh! This is sooo not helpful with anything! Grrr!

"Okay, my room is – funnily enough – exactly where yours is here, only, in the boys dorms. I'm sure Zoey won't mind too much, as long as you don't stay too long." He smiled, lifting his hand and resting it on my head and slowly ruffling my hair and removing his hand. He began to walk away and as I walked into my room he turned and said "Your hair's nice, Y'know..."

"Err... Thanks" I said, slowly raising my hand and giving him a thumbs up which he mirrored, only higher, which _really_ got the girls talking after he left. I closed the door and when I turned around the other girl from my room was right in my face and she squealed at me.

"Ahhh! You _have_ to tell me what is going on with you two!" She squealed "Oh! Wait," She said and put a hand over her mouth, then she put that hand out for me to shake it "Hi, my name's Angela. Angela Locke and yours?" she grinned at me

"Staira, Staira Beau Pre. Nice to meet you Angela" I shook her hand but she seemed absent "Hello? Angela?"

"Staira Beau Pre? Like, the new kid?!" She stood up and looked totally amazed and star struck

"Well, yeah. Unless there's like some other new Staira Beau Pre around here" I gave her a question-mark look "How come?" I asked

"Well, you're like _all_ over the place at the moment. _Everyone _is talkin' 'bout you and your weird abilities and everyone thinks it's pretty damn amazing. And cool." Angela said as she sat down on her bed across from mine.

"But really, what's going on with you and Phaite?" She asked slyly, putting her hand on her chin

"Nothing. Seriously. I think he's a bit cocky to be honest" I said honestly, turning my head away and blushing. Yeah, I did think he was cocky, but not like some of the jocks at my old school and certainly not like the jocks I used to know (e.g. Jack?). He was cocky to be funny, and he didn't seem like a total butthole. Angela lay down on her chest on her bed and sighed at me.

"Ah, now I know you're lying" Angela giggled and then pointed at me and shot me a cocky smile "Everyone – including you, Miss 'Blushy' – loves his cockiness!" She rolled over so she was on her back and put her hand down the side of her bed before pulling it up and turning her head to me,

"Any and every person in this school, if their gay or a girl, has this picture somewhere in their room..." She handed me a picture and when I looked at it I instantly blushed beet red. It was a picture of Phaite, leaning on a wall and smiling and chatting with some girls. He looked _hot_ and you haven't seen the photo but I swear if you ever do it is _gorgeous._ I handed the picture back to Angela and then I lay down on my bed and stuck my head in my pillows.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm sure you've got a chance! I mean you're the most talked about fledgling/vamp in the entire vamp/fledgling world!" I looked up out of my pillows at Angela who was smiling reassuringly at me "You're up there with Shekinah and Zoey! And besides, I'm not in that competition, so you don't have to worry about me." Angela giggled to me before putting the picture back under her bed.

"But, you have the picture. Doesn't that mean you _like_ Phaite?" I asked, fidgeting slightly on my bed to get comfy.

"I do have the picture, yeah. But I only have it because it's precious – wouldn't you agree? – "She pointed the question at me, but it was rhetorical and she then continued "Yes. But my heart lies with another" she turned her head to the ceiling and put both her hands to her heart and blushed

"Well... who is it then..?" I shot an exhausted smile at her and she turned her head to me and giggled

"I'll tell you tomorrow, you look beat" She smiled at me and then got up and went to turn her music off. She must've been right, cause just as she turned the music off the last thing I heard was a faint "Sleep well. And blessed be." And then I fell asleep on my bed.

When I woke up it was about 7pm. Whoa! I mean, I slept in a lot – but this?! I got up out of bed; feeling totally rested and ran over to Angela's bed.

"Angela! An-ge-la! It's 7 pm! 7! We have _totally_ missed school!" I shouted to her. She merely turned over to face me, stretched and laughed tiredly at me before getting up to sit on the edge of her bed.

"School isn't from 8am to 3pm anymore, Staira" She smiled at me, rubbing her eyes and yawning "It's from 8pm to 3am, our day and night is switched. We're vamps... remem- Wait!" She suddenly snapped out of her sleepiness and I gave her shock a question mark look "What time did you say it was?!" She shouted to me

"Err, 7pm?" I said, confused - as usual – and especially by the whole day and night reversed thing

"No! No, no, no, no!" Angela shouted, before springing off her bed – literally – and running to the alarm clock she had on her desk "We'll be late if we don't get ready soon!" She put her hands to her head as if she would rip her hair out and then squatted quickly, opened a drawer and pulled out some socks. She began pulling them on and before she even had them on she ran the bathroom (yes, I was still stood by her bed being confused), I heard the sound of her brushing her teeth and then she stopped. She slowly strode out of the bathroom and stood by its small door.

"When did you get here again...?" She asked me, looking slightly agitated with herself

"Umm..." I said scratching my arm nervously "Yester...day?" I smiled at her thinking she might come over and scratch my eyes out. Totally surprising me she made a fist and pulled her arm back and then quickly forward exclaiming "Yes!" and punching the air

"Why is that-?"

"Urgh! I could kiss you!" She exclaimed running over to me

"That, err, that won't be necessary" I smiled at her. She took her toothbrush out of her mouth and said "Okay..." before turning round and taking one step toward the bathroom. Then, totally surprising my stupid morning brain, she turned back to me and ran over, kissing me right on the cheek with her toothpaste lips.

"Ewww!" I exclaimed, rubbing it off my cheek and giggling like a school-girl

"So with toothpaste kisses...!" Angela sang badly – on purpose – _Toothpaste Kisses_ by the Maccabees and I giggled at her before running to her shouting "Come Here!"

It seemed to me that the nightmare - that I _had_ called a nightmare – wasn't actually a nightmare at all. Or that's what I thought.


	6. Chapter 6

After me and Angela had gotten dressed, she began leading me down to our dorm room.

"This is where you'll get your cereal in the morning before lessons and where you'll also get midnight snacks" she said in a posh, but silly, voice to try and sound like a tour guide in her Texas accent, I giggled and then decided on a question I just had to ask... but it was on a sensitive note and that sensitivity came from my corner.

"So, Angela... Are we..." I blushed and put my pinkies together in a gesture which I thought of as a gesture for 'friends'

Angela looked surprised for a second then giggled a little, gave me a bonk on the head and said "Of course we're friends, Staira," she smiled at me and then took my hand "C'mon, let's go find Phaite!"

Angela cheered me up. She made me feel like maybe I was at least slightly popular, whereas my _human _friend (Hey! I'm not human anymore; I might as well embrace it!), Mina, had totally and utterly made me lose faith in life as I knew it (wow, I just said something really deep...) and Phaite, well. He just totally messed up my heartbeat!

"Staira! I'm surprised; you didn't come to me in the night in your Pjs!" Phaite practically shouted across the field for anyone and everyone – and they were – listening to him to hear. I instantly went beet red and tried to cover my face with my hands. I looked up at Phaite who was moving towards me and frowned at him, trying to hold back embarrassed tears. _Great, now he's trying to make fun of me with his power by laughing at my plight_ I thought as I began to walk away with Angela close of my heels whispering to me stuff like "that really was out of order wasn't it?" and when I looked up at her she had begun to walk backwards (which she seemed skilled at) while sticking her tongue out at Phaite, which made giggle and got rid of some of my embarrassment and forced some tears to fall sloppily down my face. I suppose Angela had become my BFF without me even noticing.

"Hey, Staira! I'm sorry," Phaite said running a bit quicker and chuckling slightly (which only made me more annoyed "I didn't mean to do it, sometimes I forget that everyone listens to me now!" He said catching up to us and grabbing my hand, slowing me down as he laced his fingers through mine. Then I decided to do the only thing I could do at a time like this to teach him a lesson. I turned quickly with tears still falling slightly down my face as if he'd just broken up with me or something and slapped him in the face, I saw slight hurt in his eyes and momentarily felt guilty, but then I picked myself up and let my sadness and embarrassment take over my feelings.

"Look," I started, rubbing my eyes and then breathing a little stifled sighing sob "I may feel sorry about what happened to you and how you got to this House Of Night, but that really" I giggled humourlessly and looked away a bit, pulling my hand out of his "really, does _not_ give you any reason to mock others. Does it?" when I had finished speaking I realised the tears in my eyes had only increased while I had been talking and I pulled my hoody/jumper sleeves over my hands and put my face in my hands.

"I know it doesn't" Phaite said, putting his hand to his jaw lightly and then looking at me "And y'know what?" I got ready for him to call me a bi- girl dog "You're... You're really quite a cry baby" he chuckled, surprising me more than yesterday and patting my head grinning at me apologetically "I really am sorry Staira, when I first got here I wasn't as popular as now so sometimes I forget..." He put his hand to my chin jerking it up in his direction. That was the first time I had, had a good look at Phaite Forlorn. Without being groggy or crying or, well, asleep. He had sleek black hair which was medium length – so not long like a girl or a mullet, and not short like a bald guy – and had a small side parting on his left temple, you could see from a front view that his hair was slightly stuck up with gel at the back - like the lead singer of _Framing Hanley_. Yum. His tattoos consisted of a waterfall which ran from his crescent down his nose to about halfway then split off on either side and into small rivers which ran down to the ends of his jaws, then there was 1 small pretty star on his left cheekbone and three in a small ranging cluster on his right. He really was sexy, like cool scene happy-peppy-funny-good-personality kind of sexy. But unfortunately he was also popular (which was something I couldn't get) and as I was about to find out... taken (do I even need to explain?). As I was about to smile at him and accept his apology by offering him to come hang out with me and Angela for the day - a skinny, crimson haired, class A bimbo slinked herself 'round Phaite. Without him noticing she moved his hand off my chin and laced her fingers through his.

"Who's this?" She asked throwing me a slitted-eye look and smiling sexily at Phaite

"This, err, this is-"

"We gotta get going!" Angela jumped in between me and the no-go zone with a tadaa motion and grabbed my hand before waving a quick goodbye to Phaite, throwing a slitted eye look at the bimbo and hauling me away. Once Angela had stopped running and finally let me breath (I'm no athlete) I had to ask her, what the hell?

"Angela why the heck did you-?"

"That was Rosalind Blinefelt, she is chief slut around here and she's after Phaite"


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay, so I didn't grasp that already...?" I said giving her a 'don't-ya-think-it-was-obvious' look which she answered with an eye-roll

"Look, of course I know it's obvious! I just meant that's why I pulled you away" She smiled apologetically at me, which I mirrored for my obvious attitude

"So, you pulled me away so she could get her claws on him?" I asked her, confused as always, as we put our heads around the corner and stared across the field to where Phaite and Rosalind were standing, obviously playing coy with each other. One thing I would never get enough of from being a vamp was the improved vision, I mean, I don't think a vamp would go blind even if they stared at the sun all day.

"No," Angela smiled down at me because I was closer to the floor than she was (she was standing and I was kneeling) "Phaite sees through her ... poop?"

"Yeah, poop's a good word"

"Well, he sees through her poop. He's made that obvious by the fact that whenever she makes a move-"She pointed to Phaite and Rosalind just in time for me to see her go to kiss him and for him to push her off and shout something to her – if only we could hear as well as we can see – "-So I thought, if we left it to him to reject her it would work. And besides, he's showing signs of liking you so he'll probably blame the fact that you went so abruptly on her too!" Angela giggled at me and then gasped as she looked up and round the corner again. I looked and realised what she saw and only three things came from my mouth "Oh, crap. Run!"

We got up, turned and ran giggling to the dorms from an ever nearing Phaite. He caught us before we'd even gotten down the corridor and grabbed us both by the hoods, forcing us to lean back and look up at him

"Found...You" He said before letting go of our hoods, stepping back, catching us just before we hit the floor and then plopping us on the floor in front of him. Me and Angela exchanged a 'woops' glance at each other and then turned to him to apologize, but just as we were about to; we caught a sight of his face. He was grinning, in fact, chuckling slightly at us and trying to cover it by coughing a bit (which really didn't conceal it at all)

"Hey...Pfft, y-y'know your hood's got ears, right?" He chuckled at me. I frowned at him and then put on my best sweet and innocent voice

"Its cuuuute!" I grinned at him, which only made him chuckle harder, so I turned to Angela "You agree don't you Angela?" I smiled at her

"Of course it is! But I 'spose this boy wouldn't understand" She said turning her head away and making a '_humph!'_ noise

"Yeah, 'spose not. C'mon then, we don't have time for rude boys" I said standing up and offering Angela a hand with an added wink, which Phaite was too busy laughing to notice. But we were in luck and he heard me say we were leaving and he grabbed my jacket.

"Hey, can I come with you guys? I don't wanna be left for another Rosalind moment" He shuddered and when he looked back at me to continue he blushed slightly and scratched his neck anxiously "I mean, err, if you don't want me to I can go" He said turning to walk away but I grabbed his shirt

"I'd love for you to come with us..." I stared into his meadow-like eyes and blushed but for a moment I was taken back to my younger days and the weight of the whole 'vamp/fledgling' thing was relieved from my shoulders. Then I looked at Angela, breaking his eyes spell.

"Oh, so no-one asks me if he can come?" she frowned at me. I gave her my best puppy-dog look and she instantly caved in "Fine, fine. But you lover boy, it won't be too fun for you!" She frowned at Phaite next and he and I shared a glance

"I'm pretty sure it will be..." He smiled, making my heart pound in my chest.

"Oh really..." Angela smiled smugly at Phaite "Well, first we're going to front office to get Staira's lesson sheet"

"Doesn't sound too bad" Phaite shrugged and shot back the smug smile, catching Angela off-guard and making her get frustrated

"Well-well then we have to go back to the girl's dorms so that I can tell Staira my secret!" Angela said and then realised what she had blurted and went beet red, quickly covering her mouth so that nothing more could slip out. I put my hands out to comfort her but she stopped me with a sudden

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" and then a sudden crumbling onto the floor

"A-Angela, it really is okay! It's not like you actually told him!" I said trying to comfort her

"But you don't get it! He can read minds!" She cried into her hands. When I turned to Phaite I found him smiling apologetically at me and Angela

"Sorry Ang. I didn't read your mind-"He put his hand over his heart in a brownie scout swear "I swear on my own life!"

"You better not of done" I began "Or I'm gonna make sure you keep that swear..." I frowned at him. He instantly put his hand up to the back of his neck and started scratching anxiously

"Well" He said "When you put it like that..."

Angela sobbed into her hand again quickly and then got up and ran off. I watched her run off and began following her before turning back to Phaite and saying "Good going!" sarcastically, then turning and running after her. Seriously. Mind-reading? Was there _nothing_ vamps couldn't do?


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry if the last thing Angela says is kinda weird... in fact, sorry if this entire chapter is a bit weird :P

When I got to the girls dorm I turned around to hear Phaite's hard panting right behind me. Sigh. I turned back to the dorm and stepped in, and then I went right up the stairs and to the end of the corridor.

"Angela? Angelaaa?" I called through the door just before she opened it with tears streaming down her face. Instantly, like it was my instinct, I hugged her – hard – and put my hand on her head to stroke her hair, all the while murmuring 'there there's to her.

"Y'know..." She said and then sniffed "If you're gonna go out with that kid, you really need to teach him some common decency..." we both giggled lightly

"I know," I said handing her my hanky "Here, clean yourself up, we need to go to front office right?" I smiled at her

"Yeah!" She beamed at me. Angela really cleaned up well, and in an instant she looked fresh as a daisy.

"C'mon, or the people at the front office will be angry at me!" She grabbed my hand and we began running off out of the dorms. We got outside just in time to see a load of people burst out of rooms and begin laughing and moving about.

"What's happening?" I asked dumbly

"It's lunch" Angela shouted back at me over the noise. Whoa they really ate late! Oh... of course they did, they were vamps or whatever – fledglings! – And they even had classes late! I really did suck. But not literally! Dah, I'm stupid!

When we got to the front office I noticed there was a nice looking woman there with brown straight and yet curling hazel hair who looked like one of those people who _always_ smiled.

"Hello! We're here for Staira Beau Pre's Schedule?" Angela said happily as she walked over to the woman's desk while tapping it all the way in a rhythm

"Ah, yes Angela! This is her schedule right here-"She handed Angela a piece of paper and she handed it to me "She has a couple of lessons with you, which is good for building your relationship, and she has a couple with that boy Phaite whom I noticed was liking her" She winked at me. Okay, it was annoying that she talked as if I wasn't _actually_ there but at least she was friendly and wasn't actually doing it to pee me off.

"So is this okay? I can just kinda... go to the lessons when they come up like normal school? Or do I have to stop in between to go suck on someone's neck?" I said opening my mouth and doing a vampire impression, this made Angela and the woman crack up before the woman turned to me and giggled slightly "You won't _need_ blood yet; you're just a fledgling so..." She trailed off as her gaze met my crescent and her eyes got a little wider "A-actually-"she teared her gaze from my crescent to my eyes "I'm not too sure a-about you..."She smiled anxiously at me, fidgeting slightly. Geez, would I _have_ to get used to _this_?

"Hey, hey!" Angela exclaimed, tongue in cheek, while going to noogie the woman. What was she _doing_!? But the woman confused and seriously freaked me out by just giggling stubbornly

"Hey, what? Is it weird to be anxious in front of the next high priestess in line, sis?" She punched Angela's shoulder lightly and Angela looked at my question mark expression and mouthed 'tell you in a minute' and then turned back to the woman with a grin and said "We've gotta go now, Laur, will you miss us? Also I'll speak to later, cause' we need to talk to mom" She leaned down and kissed the woman (who I could now address as... Laur?) On the cheek. She quickly wiped it off and waved us away with a "Yeah, yeah, Angela..." and when we got out on the grounds Angela instantly pulled me to the side and began babbling.

"Staira, I know your super confused by that look on your face and I know this is super weird but I really _really_ need you to listen to this and it really isn't that confusing and-" I put my finger in front of her mouth

"Look, I know what's going on – it's obvious. You and that girl are sisters, it really isn't that difficult to suss out" I smiled at her and she gave me a look like 'it really isn't just that'

"Look - when I got here no-one liked me, and Laura did, she accepted me and so now we call each other sisters and act like it too" She grinned at me "That's why we look nothing alike!"

I just stared at her blankly and then said something that there really was no point in saying because I just got a mouth full of hysterical laughter overload.

"Y'know that woman really doesn't act very mature" and Angela burst out into a loud screaming cry of laughter

"Well she's not actually that old, Staira" Angela said, while wiping happy tears from her eyes "she's about Phaite's age, and you _know_ how he is"

Was Phaite that old? I pondered the thought for a moment before continuing with my confused questions

"Who is 'mom' then? If you guys aren't sisters..." I said absentmindedly

"Oh, that's simple" Angela beamed "'mom' is Zoey"


End file.
